What the Fed Can Learn from California's Energy Policy

February 24, 2009

What the Fed Can Learn from California's Energy Policy

The chair of the Air Resources Board has some advice for the new administration.

In 2006, the state of California passed landmark legislation
aimed at limiting green-house gas emissions. Under the Bush administration,
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rejected the state’s request to regulate
vehicular emissions. Earlier this month, the Obama administration announced it
would reconsider this ruling–most likely in order to reverse it.

Mary D. Nichols, chairman of the California Air Resources Board, will
be responsible for implementing the state’s climate change legislation. In a
speech at the Berkeley Energy and Resources
Collaborative annual Energy
Symposium yesterday, Nichols had some advice for a new presidential administration
with the will to act on climate change: follow California’s lead on energy
efficiency because it’s been an economic
boon for the state. Nichols mentioned a report by Next 10 that claims cutting
energy usage over the past 30 years has created 1.5 million jobs in California. (Still,
in a state characterized by suburban sprawl, carbon dioxide emissions are quite
high, at 11
tons per capita per year.)

Nichols said the federal government has three things to
learn from California’s success in curbing emissions and increasing efficiency. First, emissions policies must support a mixed
bag of technologies and programs, from funding for public transportation to
implementing cap and trade of carbon dioxide.

Second, Nichols strongly
advocated that the fed let the states do much of the work. California and other
states have been doing well, and the government should keep encouraging this
while providing incentives to get other states going on clean-energy
initiatives. “The states want to retain the authority to step in if the federal
program doesn’t work,” she said.

Third, an important role for the federal
government, Nichols says, will be to provide a central repository for emissions
data. She points to the Clean Air Act as a successful state-federal
partnership. “It’s not perfect, but it has worked effectively in a way that
engages local and state governments.”